Just after releasing Tumbling Doll Flesh (more infamously known as Psycho: The Snuff Reels), the ultimate and most disgusting film in the simulated-snuff sub-genre of Horror, director Tamakichi Anaru is back just a year later with another gloomy shocker, titled Suicide Dolls.

Suicide Dolls as the title alludes, focuses on three suicidal females told through three stories: “Tenchuu", "Sabaki", and "Kyôen". The first depicts a woman waiting in an apartment, with seemingly unpacked boxes of stuff. Obviously lonely and bored, she passes the time away rummaging through boxes, making uneventful phone calls, and smoking cigarettes as well as crack. In between attacks of anxiety she finds a handgun and bullets in the closet. Many hours pass and all that is heard is the repetitive sound of traffic and birds from outside. With repeated attempts she tries to reach someone on the phone to no avail. Later, as the night draws near she starts playing with the gun, challenging herself to a game of Russian roulette. The outcome is predictable, and ads a gloomy twist of irony and black humor.

A man and a woman sit at a kitchen table. The man passes a piece of paper to the woman, which appears to be unsettling to her (possibly divorce papers). After the man leaves the woman goes though bouts of disgust and depression. At one point she leaves the room to vomit and even lies on the floor, scratching at the baseboards as she gradually loses her mind. At her peak of disparity the woman carries a white rope, and removes a chair from the kitchen. She slowly makes her way down the hall and out of our view. We cut to the hallway, and the woman finalizes her segment with tiny muscle spasms and the sound of bodily fluid.

The third segment is different from its predecessors. This time, a camera crew gets ready a room with a blue tarp and instruments one would use for a ritual suicide. Once the shot is properly lit for filming, they light candles on the seppuku mat. One by one, each member of the crew in turn, kneels and lights incense for the impending ceremony. While this is occurring a robed woman is filmed by a cameraman, while she pleasantly converses with him as she smokes a cigarette. In due time, she approaches the mat, but unlike most films featuring hara-kiri, she doesn’t completely undress. Instead she simply opens her robe enough to expose her bare stomach. When she attempts seppuku she doesn’t have a firm enough grip so a crew member assists her in securing the knife to her hand with a white cloth. Following is the absolute most insanely realistic ritual suicide I have ever seen. I’ve stated this before with Lost Paradise, but this scene steals the sickening seppuku show. I was so shocked when the knife cut through her abdominals like butter that I had to watch the scene several more times in slow motion, until finally noticing it was merely a superbly convincing prosthetic stomach appliance. If that scene isn’t enough for you, wait until the following which gives Guinea Pig: Flowers of Flesh and Blood a run for its Yen. A crew member even has to leave the room to upchuck his bukkake noodles.

The first two segments of Suicide Dolls are filmed entirely with one or two camera shots, devoid of any added music giving it a similar feel to a Dogme 95 film. The viewer gets an almost voyeuristic look into these women’s lives, as if what we are watching is actual found footage viewed from a hidden camera. This ultimately results in a more realistic and powerful viewing experience. The final segment doesn’t use any amazing visuals in telling the story, but does use more camera movement than just the stationary shot.

Suicide Dolls really leaves you quite puzzled as to the purpose of all this. To make matters worse, it unravels on a completely surreal note involving stop motion footage of multi-colored prancing dolls that make weird cutesy squeaking noises. Some prance, while other more demonic individuals attack each another while extreme electronic music attacks your speakers. Whether Suicide Dolls is comprehensible to all its viewers, if you have the stomach, it’s a must see outing into the unusual and intense world of Tamakichi Anaru.